New York City boasts some of the world's most glamorous hotels, from the Waldorf Astoria to the Standard. The latest addition for travelers is 11 Howard, a luxury hotel on the site of a former Holiday Inn that features Scandinavian-style interiors designed by creative director Anda Andrei, formerly the in-house design guru of hotelier Ian Schrager.
11 Howard's "casual luxury" kicks off in the hotel's austerely minimalist lobby. The room is dominated by an Alexander Calder mobile suspended from the ceiling. In lieu of a front desk, guests check themselves in via iPad. A low circular table and trio of cylindrical marble stools in front of a black paneled screen offers the room's only lounge area. Uplighting adds a dash of glamor and mystery to the simple, chic, and expensive-looking space.
The hotel's upstairs "library" offers guests a more plush, sociable space with a number of seating groups. The furniture is a mix of antique finds and pieces designed by Rick Owens.
The 221 guest rooms were designed in collaboration with Space Copenhagen. These feature Danish-modern furniture and a friendly, muted color palette of blue, gray, and pink.
Andrei told Sight Unseen that the design team's use of materials is quintessentially Scandinavian. "It’s the way we dress, it’s the way we live. There is something about the honesty of these materials that ultimately, even used, they might look better than new. It’s not all distressed and it’s not all polished—it’s a balance."
In Soho, A Glam Scandinavian Retreat Rises on the Footprint of an Old Holiday Inn [Sight Unseen]